Pearle Harbour
iPhoto caption: Members of the company of 'Katma.' Photo by Anna Kucera.
At the 2026 Luminato Festival, performance gets up close and personal
“It would be so weird for people to be sitting two feet away, watching other people have a good time,” says Katma creator Azzam Mohamed. “In the party environment, there’s nothing between me and you. You’re so close to me that I can’t fake it."
iPhoto caption: Headshot courtesy of Byron Laviolette.
Speaking in Draft: Byron Laviolette
“Right now, the creation-to-production process for a lot of people is from the Toronto Fringe to — hopefully — some theatre recommender grants, to a workshop production, to maybe an actual production,” says What The Festival co-founder Byron Laviolette. “But the realities of mounting a show at the Fringe don’t translate to a two-week run at the Extraspace at Tarragon. Peoples’ appetites are different. Yet we don’t train or support people to translate their shows into those different contexts."
iPhoto caption: Headshot courtesy of Justin Miller.
Speaking in Draft: Justin Miller
“I love to laugh,” says Miller, an actor, bouffon drag clown, performance artist, and teacher extraordinaire. “Some of the most impactful and meaningful experiences I've had have been shared through a comedic lens. I think you have a far better chance of actually changing people with comedy, because it's in moments of surprise and subversion of expectation that you have a chance to knock them off their balance, and maybe show them something new.”
iPhoto caption: Pearle Harbour (Justin Miller) performs in Early Distant Warning, featuring set design by Jackie Chau, lighting design by Jareth Li, and costume design by Julia Howman. Photo by Jeremy Mimnagh
REVIEW: Distant Early Warning at Buddies in Bad Times Theatre
In her one-woman show, Pearle Harbour (Justin Miller) proves that the best way to endure life’s challenges is with humour.